Oklahoma City Thunder: Rebounding basketball an issue for Thunder

Tyson Chandler sat in the visitor's locker room recapping his team's shootout victory over the Thunder with slurred speech and a mandatory safety net.

Oklahoma City's Nick Collison (4) falls after fouling with New YorK's Tyson Chandler (6) during NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, Sunday, April 7, 2010, in Oklahoma City. Chandler was called for a technical foul. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman

The New York Knicks center had a chipped tooth, and the mouthpiece he wore while conducting his postgame interview helped keep it from falling out yet resulted in a lisp.

In between squeezing off a game-high 29 shots, seemingly gunning for (and getting) the lead in the scoring race in his only head-to-head battle this season with Kevin Durant, Anthony actually did some dirty work.

He busted up Chandler's mouth while grabbing one of his nine offensive rebounds and going back up for a putback.

Meanwhile, down the hall in the home locker room, the Thunder again downplayed its biggest defensive deficiency and expressed little concern despite how things appear to be getting worse rather than better as the playoffs approach.

“I'm not concerned,” Durant said when asked directly about the team's rebounding woes.

Yet the only consistent thing about the Thunder's defense seems to be inconsistency.

Oklahoma City followed up its best defensive performance of the season with one of its worst. After holding Indiana to eight points on 2-for-18 shooting in the fourth quarter Friday, the Thunder allowed a season high for points, yielded at least 30 points in three quarters (and 29 in the fourth) and allowed 19 offensive rebounds.

The rebounding was the worst of all evils.

That's because Sunday marked the fifth time in the past 10 games that the Thunder has allowed at least 16 offensive rebounds. The Knicks converted their 19 offensive boards into 23 second-chance points.

“We just gave up too many offensive rebounds,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “When we did make them miss they got 19 offensive rebounds and 23 putback points. That's not good. We should not be able to give up both of them.”

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Darnell Mayberry grew up in Langston, Okla. and is now in his third stint in the Sooner state. After a year and a half at Bishop McGuinness High, he finished his prep years in Falls Church, Va., before graduating from Norfolk State University in...